Because Blizzard wants people to continue to return to the Old World and it ensures life in quality but otherwise forgotten content.

But… But…

What about the Neutral Auction Houses.

I sort of consider the neutral auction houses to be a bit of a failure. Really only ever used for cross faction “smuggling”.

In fact, I think that’s all they have ever been used for.

The three current Neutral Auction Houses are in places that players are only ever in temporarily (Gadgetzan, Booty Bay & Everlook). Sure back in Vanilla wow they were hub-ish, but not since TBC hit the shelves.

I think that now is the time to introduce Neutral Auction House in at least Dalaran, if not dropping one in Lower City as well.

The demand for their use is greater than ever. Achievements encourage the sale of faction only items, the problem is the market.

There aren’t enough buyers or sellers. Put the Auction House in Dalaran and suddenly people would be putting all sorts of stuff up for sale, and all sorts would be flocking to see what is up for offer.

This would also cut down on, or at least increase the risk of cross faction smuggling. If there are more buyers watching the Neutral Auction Houses, then is is going to be harder to slip the 50g item through for 50s.

Another thing it will do is help to vitalize lower population factions. It’s just a reality that most servers have some sort of a population imbalance.

The problem with this is that the high pop faction will have a vibrant economy, the low pop faction a stagnant economy. Introduce a high pop Neutral Auction House and some of the economy issue will be readdressed

Sure, the seller will face addition costs in selling via the Neutral Auction Houses (5% cut vs. 15% in neutral auction houses), which will (theoretically) increase the sell price on the items. So players will be faced with a buy/sell at the Neutral Auction Houses and incur higher costs, or deal with the inconvenience of traveling back to a major friendly city.

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17 Responses

I’m actually glad there are no AH’s or even neutral AH’s in Shat and Dalaran. With those being available, I think the population would double and we all know that both of those cities are notorious for their lag.. imagine what it would be with 200-500 more players hanging out there? Ouch.

@Fear.Win: Ssshhhhh… that’s part of my fiendish plan… people will get so sick of it they will avoid Dalaran (Maybe heading to Shatt thinking it will handle it better), and I can do my daily cooking quest without spending 50% of the time trying to run through walls.

The problem with putting an AH in Dal/Shat is going to be the lag. It’s the very reason why they are kept in the old world. It isn’t so much because they want people to keep going back to Org/UC or SW/IF, it’s that they don’t want Dal/Shat to constantly crash because everyone is there and the server can’t handle it.

I would love to have easier access to a neutral AH so that I could have a better chance at getting oposing-faction only items (like the herbalism glove enchant, so simple, yet impossible for horde to get any other way).

But, if they put a Neutral AH in Dal, then the only reason I will ever go to that city from that point forward would be….no, there would be no going there. I drop to a max of 2 FPS when I get into Dal and it takes me about 90 seconds to move 30 yards. If you took the population of all the major cities and threw them into Dal too, then screw that place, as far as I’m concerned it would no longer exist for me.

@prelimar: Nah, I didn’t email them, although I linked to them, so they may notice….

Me, I want more Mage content everywhere… but is there every anything to talk about? I think there is too great a danger it would come out as QQ.

@Darraxus: That is their primary use at the moment… x-faction pets.

@Psynister: To me lag would be the greatest inhibitor to putting it there in the 1st place. After that… well it’s a free economy, so maybe people will be happy to post at a loss, and maybe it would drain the life out of old content… but I am not to sure.

There are enough greedy goblin’s out there to want to make premium margin and that would require faction AH’s.

The only time it was ever useful for me was to empty my bags of salable items, buy a mithral casing, and sell an item to a hordie that wanted an Rare Gem pattern I had listed for alot on the Alliance AH. He messaged me on an alt asking I post it on a neutral Ah, he brought it. I was happy to get my asking price.

So I agree, it needs to be more accesible, and develop its own market dynamic to be of any real use. Not sure if a AH in Dalaran would be good for its stability, maybe at a goblin establishement.

I think that’s possibly the most brilliant idea I’ve heard in a long time. The 15% is a bit archaic as well I mean maybe a solid 10% but the gouge is really a big turn off to using the neutral AH.

I agree dropping one in Shattrath’s lower city or in the Underbelly of Dalaran would not only fit the kit/lore of these big bustling cities, but it’d also provide more immersion (like blizzard knocking out flying mounts in dalaran to keep the city streets looking busy).

Lag in dalaran would be my only concern. It’s already a royal pain to zone in during peak hours with dalaran lag depending on realm population, I can’t imagine how it’d be with a cluster of people hanging out in the sewers.

@pugnaciouspriest: I often wanted to drop by the NAH, but there was never anything there, and as a means to offloading the usual trash in your bags it was expensive, especially since it was unlikely to sell. Unless it was mithril casings or ingredients for the cooking quest (in which case you could make a bucketload of cash on otherwise near worthless items).

I think Underbelly as Spooner suggests has some merit… Goblins worm their way into the sewers… give them their own drain pipe… less lag, more NAH!

@Spooner: Why thankyou bringer of all sorts of juicy information. Hard to imagine that you can be amazed, yet here is proof positive…

I can live with the 15%… happy that it is more profitable to trade within one’s own faction, but the thing is to make sure there is enough quantity going through the AH that people actually look and buy.

“slip the 50g item through for 50s.” – Nah, why pay 7.5s in AH commission, just put it up for 1c. If someone manages to ninja your smuggle (never seen it so far, touch wood) the 50s price won’t deter them.